Iris
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Iris slides for presentation academic writing course University of Iceland April 2018
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Iris
- 1. Understanding the importance of studying parental leave use of lone parents Íris Dögg Lárusdóttir, PhD student Faculty of Social Work, University of Iceland
- 2. Introduction is the aim of the Act on paid parental leave no. 95/2000 being met in the case of lone parent families? study in the beginning phases here I will argue for the importance of this study
- 3. Nordic welfare policy the rights of the child gender equality
- 4. Nordic welfare policy from breadwinner model to dual earner/dual carer model
- 5. Nordic welfare policy public policies affect decisions of individuals family focused policy increases equality in care (Altintas & Sullivan, 2017)
- 6. The aim of the Icelandic act on paid parental leave children receive care from both parents enable both parents to coordinate family-life and work
- 7. Icelandic act on paid parental leave 9 months total mothers 3 months shared 3 months fathers 3 months
- 8. Icelandic act on paid parental leave right to all parents regardless of marital status residency custody
- 9. 16% of children in Iceland are born into lone parent families 54% 30% 16% Cohabiting parents Married parents Lone parents
- 10. Importance of care from both parents father‘s involvement in care has positive effects on child‘s social, psychological and behaviroural outcome (Sarkadi et. al., 2008) father‘s parental leave use increases participation in care and attachment between father and child (Almqvist & Duvander, 2014; Duvander & Jans, 2009; Haas & Hwang, 2008)
- 11. Lone parents and shared care children of lone parents have an equal right to be cared for by both parents lone parents find it difficult to trust each other to share the care of their child (Eydal & Ragnarsdóttir, 2008) they are in need of professional support regarding organisation of parental leave (Eydal & Ragnarsdóttir, 2008)
- 12. The importance of studying parental leave use of lone parents important to gain knowledge on parental leave use of lone parents learn from those who successfully share the care of their child
- 13. Research project “Childcare and Labour Market Participation of Parents of Children under the age of 3” directed by dr. Guðný Björk Eydal and dr. Ingólfur V. Gíslason
- 14. Research project PhD students are Ásdís Arnalds and Íris Dögg Lárusdóttir in collaboration with The Social Science Research Institute funded by:
- 15. Research project assess if the aim of the act on paid parental leave is reached cross-sectional population study conducted in 2001, 2007, 2013 and 2018 questionnaires on parents‘ division of work and care during the child‘s first three years
- 16. Previous results parents share more equally in their child‘s care lone parents do not share care as much, but it is increasing direct correlation between the father‘s leave length and his involvement in care afterwards (Arnalds, Eydal & Gíslason, 2013)
- 17. My research questions 1) What characterises the parents who don’t live together at the birth of their child and those who separate in their child’s first three years? 2) How do lone parents divide parental leave and care compared to married or cohabiting parents? What characterises the lone parents that are able to share the care of their child?
- 18. My research questions 3) Who contributes to the care of children in lone parent families and have care patterns changed since the introduction of the law? 4) What is the interplay between parental leave use, the division of work and care and marital stability?
- 19. Conclusions a work in progress the newest survey is ongoing conclusions to be published later
- 20. Thank you!
Editor's Notes
- Good afternoon My name is Íris Dögg Lárusdóttir and I am a doctoral student at the faculty of social work at the University of Iceland.
- Today I am going to give a brief introdcution on my doctoral studies, but I am conducting a quantitative study on parental leave use of lone parents and their division of care of their children. My study is in the beginning phases and I don‘t have conclusions to present yet, so my presentation here today will be on the background of my research topic and I will argue for the importance of studying this topic. In my study I will assess if the aim of the Icelandic law on paid parental leave are being met in the case of lone parent families.
- First, it is important to understand the policy system in which the Icelandic law on paid parental leave was created. The social welfare systems in the Nordic countries (Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) are similar, with their family legislation systems being guided by two principles: the rights of the child and gender equality.
- Family policy in the Nordic countries has moved from the breadwinner model where the marriage is a cornerstone with the father being responsible for paid labour and the mother for the childcare and homemaking to an individual model, where the spouses are both responsible for the income and both parents are equally responsible for caring for their children. This approach is called the dual earner/dual carer model
- Public policies of governments affect the decisions of individuals and a dual earner/dual carer family policy can give fathers the opportunity to be more involved in their children’s lives. Fathers who live in countries with a family focused public policy, as in the Nordic countries, participate more equally in the care of their children than fathers from other countries.
- An example of a family policy that promotes a dual earner/dual carer approach is the Icelandic law on paid parental leave, which was unanimously passed in the Icelandic parliament in the year 2000. The law is built on the Nordic welfare system’s principles of the rights of the child and gender equality. The law’s stated aim is to ensure that children receive care from both parents and also to enable both parents to coordinate family-life and work.
- This was a radical legislation as it divided the total nine month leave period in to three equal parts with three months earmarked for the mother, three months for the father (referred to as the father’s quota) and the remaining three they can divide between themselves at will. This is a “use it or lose it” policy, which means that the individual rights of the parents can’t be transferred to the other parent.
- Another radical factor of the legislation is the equal right to ALL parents, regardless of their marital status, residency of child or custody arrangements. The only condition for parents without custody is that they have approved visitation rights during their parental leave period. When the legislation bill was discussed in the parliament, there was a clear emphasis that all children should enjoy the full nine months of parental leave with a parent and only in a few exceptional cases would that not be possible, for example if the parents didn’t live in the same country. It was made clear that children of lone parents should also enjoy this right.
- Now we will take a closer look at lone parent families in Iceland, which are a big proportion of families with children in Iceland. As we can see here,16% of children in Iceland are born into lone parent families. These children have the same right as children of married or cohabiting parents to be cared for by both their parents, and it is important that these children get the opportunity to be cared for by their fathers from birth, to ensure an attachment between father and child, which has long-term positive effect on the child. Before going further I would like to clarify that I define lone parents as parents who do not live with a partner but have dependent children, regardless of residency or custody arrangements. In the case of lone parent families in Iceland, the child has a legal residency with one of the parents, called the residential parent, and the other parent is categorized as a non-residential parent, which is the father in the vast majority of cases.
- The importance of fathers’ involvement in their children’s lives has frequently been demonstrated in numerous studies and, their involvement has been found to have positive effects on children’s social, psychological and behavioural outcomes. Fathers who take parental leave are more involved with the care of their young children which has a positive effect on the attachment between the father and the child. These fathers also spend more time with their children later in their lifetime.
- Children of lone parents have the same right as children of married or cohabiting parents to be cared for by both their parents, and it is important that these children get the opportunity to be cared for by their fathers from birth onwards. An Icelandic qualitative study found that lone parents who do not know each other well or who do not trust each other find it difficult to share the care of their child. The conclusion was that lone parents are in need of professional support and counseling regarding the organisation of parental leave in order to ensure the best interests of the child.
- As the parental leave policy aims to encourage all parents participation in care to strengthen the relationship between father and child, it is very important to gain knowledge on the group that are lacking in sharing the parental leave use and division of care in lone parent families. The objective will be to learn what characterises the lone parents, how they organise the parental leave and division of care and seek to learn from those parents who are successfully share the care of their child. It is also important to seek to find how social work can enhance cooperation among lone parents during the first year of their child’s live.
- Now I will introduce my study, which is a part of the research project Childcare and Labor Market Participation of Parents of Children under the age of 3, which is directed by dr. Guðný Björk Eydal and dr. Ingólfur V. Gíslason.
- Two PhD students are working individually on the research project, myself and my colleague, Ásdís Arnalds. The research project is in collaboration with The Social Science Research Institute (Félagsvísindastofnun HÍ) and funded by The Icelandic Centre for Research (Rannís), The Icelandic Equality Fund (Jafnréttissjóður Íslands) and The University of Iceland Research Fund (Rannsóknarsjóður Háskóla Íslands)
- The research project aims to assess if the Icelandic law on paid parental leave is reaching its stated aims of enabling both parents to earn and care . A cross-sectional population study has been conducted in 2001, 2007, 2013 and 2018. A questionnaire was sent to all parents in Iceland whose first child was born four years prior to the survey. The first survey was aimed at children born in 1997, before the law on parental leave was enacted. The second group of children were born in 2003, after the full implementation of the law. The third group of children was born in 2009, after the economic crash, and the latest survey has recently been sent to parents who had their first child in 2014. The questionnaires sent to parents is on their division of work and care during the first three years after the birth of their first child. The extensive dataset collected from these surveys gives the opportunity to compare answers through the years and analyse the change in parental leave use and division of care.
- Previous results of this research project showed that the division of care between parents in the first three years of their child’s life has changed in the intended direction, with the care now being shared more equally than before. The shared caring of the child is least common among lone parents, but they have increased their sharing of care since the law was implemented. Finally, the results showed that there is a direct correlation between the length of parental leave taken by the father and his involvement in the care of his child afterwards As these results showed that lone parents are lacking when it comes to sharing their children’s care it is important to analyse the care patterns of lone parent families which, hopefully, will result in a valuable contribution to knowledge on family life.
- As I said in the beginning of this presentation, my study will assess if the aims of the Icelandic law on paid parental leave are being reached in the case of lone parent families. I plan to publish four articles that will answere the following questions. What characterises the parents who don’t live together at the birth of their child and those who separate in their child’s first three years? How do lone parents divide parental leave and care compared to married or cohabiting parents? What characterises the lone parents that are able to share the care of their child?
- Who contributes to the care of children in lone parent families and have care patterns changed since the introduction of the law? What is the interplay between parental leave use, the division of work and care and marital stability?
- My study is a work in progress as the newest survey was recently sent to parents who had their first child in 2014. Results are expected soon, so be on the look-out for the, hopefully, groundbreaking results as they will be pusblished